Los Angeles NAACP President Resigns Over Donald Sterling Controversy

In this photo taken April 28, 2014, Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, announces that Los Angeles Clippers basketball team owner Donald Sterling will not be receiving his lifetime achievement award, at a news conference in Culver City, Calif. Jenkins has his own legal problems, which are coming into focus now that the NBA has banned Sterling for racist comments. AP Photo/Nick Ut The President of the Los Angeles branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has resigned.

"Please be advised that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency," Leon Jenkins said in a statement. "In order to separate the Los Angeles NAACP and the NAACP from the negative exposure I have caused ... I respectfully resign my position as President of the Los Angeles NAACP."

Jenkins' leadership had come under increased scrutiny after a tape leaked of Los Angeles Clippers' owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks, just weeks before he was to be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP. In the ensuing controversy, the group released a statement saying it would withdraw the honor.

Many viewed the award as being given due only to Sterling's charitable donations to the branch.

"It's an insignificant amount of money, and we're going to return it," Jenkins said last week in a press conference, adding that the NAACP and Sterling have had a relationship for "maybe 15-20 years."

He went on to defend Sterling's record on minorities, but called his recent remarks "devastating," according to the Los Angeles Daily News.